Alice Coachman Davis never entered the pantheon of breakthrough African-American sports heroes, like Jesse Owens or Wilma Rudolph. But she was a pioneer nonetheless.
In 1948, competing as Alice Coachman, she became the first African-American woman to win Olympic gold, breaking the U.S. and Olympic records in the high jump.
Chances are, you've never heard of her. Davis died on Monday at age 90 from cardiac arrest.
"It was because of her self-confidence, her ability to push through, that made the neglect feel all the more hurtful," says Jennifer Lansbury, author of A Spectacular Leap: Black Women Athletes in Twentieth Century America.
Coachman wasn't encouraged as a child. In her day, it was considered questionable for women to compete in track and field — as opposed to more "feminine" sports such as swimming or tennis.
"There were some stereotypes that were very prevalent," says Gary Sailes, a sports sociologist at Indiana University. "If you participate in sports, it could affect your ability to have a baby. The lesbian thing was out there."
These were attitudes apparently shared by Coachman's father. "Her father believed that girls should be dainty and sit on the porch and drink tea and not do sports," says Heather Lang, author of a children's book about Coachman.
In a 2004 interview with NPR, Coachman said the fact that female athletes were discouraged ultimately helped her out.
"I didn't have any girls for playmates because they were ladylike, and I didn't have no competition to help me jump over the bar, I didn't have no competition to make me run fast, and I didn't have no competition to hit the baseball or softball," she said. "So I was really a boy in the sight of the other boys I was playing with. And when I look back, maybe if I hadn't played with them, I wouldn't have been as good as I am. That was my competition right there."
Coachman grew up poor in Georgia, often running and jumping barefoot, sometimes using ropes or tied-up rags for crossbars as she practiced her jumps.
Coachman was discovered, though, at a meet at Tuskegee Institute. She went on to win the national championships in the high jump 10 years in a row.
She was only an Olympic champion once, however. The games were canceled in 1940 and 1944 due to World War II, cheating her of her turn to compete in her prime.
Coachman and many others believed she would have become a repeating champion, if she'd had the chance.
"Had she competed in those canceled Olympics, we would probably be talking about her as the No. 1 female athlete of all time," Eric Williams wrote for the Black Athlete Sports Network.
Coachman was awarded her gold medal in London by King George VI. She was the only American woman to win a gold medal at those games.
But her hero's welcome back home in Albany, Ga. — a segregated event where the mayor refused to share her hand — was bittersweet.
"To come back home to your own country, your own state and your own city, and you can't get a handshake from the mayor?" Coachman said in the NPR interview, which was conducted by the National Visionary Leadership Project. "Wasn't a good feeling."
Lansbury, an independent historian, says the event has to be remembered in the context of the times. Albany's reception may not have represented a civil rights breakthrough, but declaring a day and holding a parade in her honor was something quite unusual for a southwestern Georgia city in the late 1940s.
"For them to put a picture of her on the front page of the Albany Herald was not done and had not been done," Lansbury says.
The 1948 Olympics were her last competitive event. A dozen years later, she watched Wilma Rudolph, who recovered from infantile paralysis caused by polio to win three gold medals in Rome in 1960.
Rudolph became a hugely celebrated figure who helped elevate the popularity of women's track in the U.S. Her homecoming celebration in Clarksville, Tenn., was, at her insistence, that city'sfirst integrated event.
In those few crucial years, the civil rights environment and racial attitudes had shifted enough for Rudolph to be lauded in a way that wasn't possible for Coachman.
"Sometimes, it's just about somebody being the right person at the right time," Lansbury says. "I really feel that with Wilma Rudolph, there was a convergence of her personality and where civil rights was at that point in time when she competed."
Coachman herself attributed Rudolph's greater fame to the spread of television. There's something to that, and Coachman never begrudged Rudolph her triumph. But she couldn't have been thrilled when Rudolph, in her autobiography, attributed the first Olympic gold medal to another African American woman entirely.
Books and articles kept appearing that credited Rudolph herself with being the first African-American woman to earn Olympic gold.
Coachman, meanwhile, went on to marry two different men named Davis, teaching and coaching.
"Her students said, 'You said you were the first one,' " Lansbury says. "It wasn't until she brought her medal in the next day and showed it to them that they believed she was the first."
Coachman did receive some recognition in her later years, founding a track and field foundation at age 70 and being inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame at 80.
She never doubted her own contribution.
"I made a difference among the blacks, being one of the leaders," she told The New York Timesin 1996. "If I had gone to the games and failed, there wouldn't be anyone to follow in my footsteps."
Sailes, who teaches African-American studies and kinesiology at Indiana, says that Coachman's confidence helped her put aside all the slights in her life.
"She had a higher agenda than dealing with dealing with the racial polarization," Sailes says. "She rose above it by focusing on the work and what she needed to accomplish."
Stay Safe and Alert!!!
Later, Leroy Duncan
Beat Facilitator
25th District Police Department
ARCHIVES
 | ||
Wednesday 7.16.14 HLN-TV Show     | ||
N'Spirational Conversations
N'Spiration and N'Formation Take the HLN app with you on your ipod, ipad, zune, tablet, etc, https://market.android.com/details?id=org.HLN&feature=search_result
This newsletter includes:
1. NSpirational Conversations 2. Community Calendar N'Spirartional Conversations Had a wonderful time at the 2014 Young Women's Luncheon Sunday with local celebs from my previous employer WGCI's Demi Lobo and actress Drew Sidora (The GAME, movie Crazy, Sexy, Cool, etc.I It was so good to see young women (& a few men) making their mark in their chosen industry. What baffles me most was an artistic young lady (see pinterest at end of article) with hot PURPLE lipstick who sampled her lipstick on me (Gold, to match my dress) but no one would tell me how silly I looked! I got to the ladies room in time to wash it off BEFORE I was laughed off the planet! (LOL) My question is: "Why wouldn't somene tell me I looked crazy?" I then thought to myself young people act and think differently than the wiser generation. So just be glad no one took a photo (I hope not) while we were streaming live on www.intellectualradio.com I guess I should be happy that someone even thought enough of me to invite an ol' radio pro out! Be sure and check out the photos on www.pinterest.com/tvshowhln/2014-womens-power-luncheon/ HLN is working on a book/video release and you decide on which cover to use. Please vote now! www.Facebook.com/hlntvshow  We will keep you posted of the upcoming details. Until next ime, Stay on purpose, stay empowered, stay tuned to higher learning! Lovingly, Zelda Robinson-Hogues Author/Speaker/Trainer/Host/Media Consultant CLTV Traffic/HLN-TV Producer (Available for your next event!) Book Today! blogs Chef Tony shares cooking tips healthy-baked-alternatives-to-french-fries-vegetables Memory of Bobby Womack http://menonhigherlearning.blogspot.com
10 Green Smoothies That Won't Break The Bank
Higher Learning Network,NFP Receives 2014 Best of Chicago Award http://higherlearningnetworknfp.blogspot.com
9 Self-Care Tips I Learned From Losing 120 Pounds!
resources, jobs, and more!http://crddcselfempowermenttraining.blogspot.com | ||
Clark Accounting!
2013 Accounting Firm of the year!
Get Taxes done by Chicago's
Finest Tax Authority
Contact Sherwin Clark
www.thebesttaxman.org
irsrefunds@yahoo.com
(be sure and tell him Zelda sent you!
CASH FOR YOUR CLOTHING!
Ladies, Clean those closets and get PAID for clothing you don't wear!
(That's clean and in good shape!)
Call Rita or Vicky at Buy Popular Demand!
(Be sure and tell them Zelda sent you!)
Great Place to Shop
DEEP Discounts!
www.BuyPopularDemand.com
Threads Furniture Consignment Store
www.Threadetcresale.com
Mayor Rahm Emanuel backs $13-an-hour minimum wage
www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140707/BLOGS02/140709881/emanuel-backs-13-an-hour-minimum-wage?r=8554C2903134J5S
www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140707/BLOGS02/140709881/emanuel-backs-13-an-hour-minimum-wage?r=8554C2903134J5S
Mama Hawk
Rescue to Royalty!
http://princess-paws-couture.com
email: princesspawscouture@gmail.com
www.WheresMyBrother.com
www.poetryfoundation.org/programs/event
GROW YOUR BUSINESS!
STOP throwing away your cash!
Use BARTER DOLLARS instead!
tell Karen Higher Learning Network sent you!
Diabetes Danger
www.sharecare.com
website of the week!
www.ted.com/talks/joi_ito_want_to_innovate_become_a_now_ist?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2014-07-12&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_button#t-147105
www.change.org/petitions/blue-cross-blue-shield-pay-for-our-daughter-s-seizure-medicine?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=96755&alert_id=ljNCnRzEjG_%2FEVbTgZIt1GD%2B6EXcx4mddXojvdxQdn06205IQOapdM%3D
Author of the Week
Famous for Mrs. Annie's Cajun Rice
Diabetes Danger
www.sharecare.com
website of the week!
www.ted.com/talks/joi_ito_want_to_innovate_become_a_now_ist?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2014-07-12&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_button#t-147105
www.change.org/petitions/blue-cross-blue-shield-pay-for-our-daughter-s-seizure-medicine?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=96755&alert_id=ljNCnRzEjG_%2FEVbTgZIt1GD%2B6EXcx4mddXojvdxQdn06205IQOapdM%3D
Famous for Mrs. Annie's Cajun Rice
Promote your books to
Media
Questions? call 312-409-6619
http://self-publishingondemand.blogspot.com/2013/06/self-publishing-101-will-teach-you-how.html
NEED A PROMO for your upcoming book?
Get yours today!
Tony Hogues
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtTwOCqX9hw
Effie Rolfe
www.youtube.com/watch?v=whycUDPWNYQ
Darlene Tate
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7OKrZp2Yv8
Janine Ingram
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PVQOsQrKeI
CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF IN THE STUDIO
RECORDING YOUR COMMERCIAL?
FREE?
HigherLearningNw@yahoo.com
HLN TV Team at work!
Higher Learning Network,NFP
P.O. Box 11513
Chicago, Il. 60611
(312) 409-6619
Higher Learning Network is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. You may make a donation using our secure site
Please choose a project you'd like to make a difference in:
Publishing Project
(Teaching youth how to publish poetry, journals, etc) Who knows, you may be donating to the next Langston Hughes, Michael Eric Dyson, Tupac, etc.
Youth Media Training Supplies
(Blank SONY DVD Mini Cam Tapes, Blank DVDs USB Ports, Misc. Training Supplies, lunch for kids, etc.)
Radio Tours
(Gas for Van to pick up youth, CTA Bus Passes for kids to attend classes, tours of Radio/TV Stations, etc.
Please choose a project you'd like to make a difference in:
Publishing Project
(Teaching youth how to publish poetry, journals, etc) Who knows, you may be donating to the next Langston Hughes, Michael Eric Dyson, Tupac, etc.
Youth Media Training Supplies
(Blank SONY DVD Mini Cam Tapes, Blank DVDs USB Ports, Misc. Training Supplies, lunch for kids, etc.)
Radio Tours
(Gas for Van to pick up youth, CTA Bus Passes for kids to attend classes, tours of Radio/TV Stations, etc.
Offical sponsor
of
HLN News!
Grow your business with www.Itex.com
STOP Paying CASH
for Business
and Personal Expenses
BARTER instead!
Contact Karen.Kelly@itex.net
Confident Currency,Inc ITEX in Chicagoland
Phone: 847-755-3000
847847@itex.net
Please support
Higher Learning Network
NFP Partners!
Higher Learning Network
NFP Partners!
Special Occasion?
Need a Great Videographer?
Call Tony!
Not only is he a great cook, but a Camera Man too!
Weddings!
Graduations!
Birthdays!
Parties and more!
E-mail:higherlearningnw@yahoo.com
________________________
YISRAELCOMMUNICATIONS!
Need a Great Videographer?
Call Tony!
Not only is he a great cook, but a Camera Man too!
Weddings!
Graduations!
Birthdays!
Parties and more!
E-mail:higherlearningnw@yahoo.com
________________________
YISRAELCOMMUNICATIONS!
You Don't Have To Live in PAIN!
Call Dr. J! No RX!!
www.wickerparkchiro.com
Call Today!
FEEL GOOD TODAY!
Call Dr. J! No RX!!
www.wickerparkchiro.com
Call Today!
FEEL GOOD TODAY!
European American Association
2827 West Division Street
Chicago, IL 60622
www.EAAChicago.org
Serving Chicagoland with CEDA, LIHEAP and other crucial programs for the community!
2827 West Division Street
Chicago, IL 60622
www.EAAChicago.org
Serving Chicagoland with CEDA, LIHEAP and other crucial programs for the community!
Man With a Van!
Available for small moving jobs! (Cargo Van)
312-409-6619
312-409-6619
